Higher education

A few area college presidents have salaries that top $500,000

November 10, 2003|By Chicago Tribune.

CHICAGO — The salaries of college presidents continued their track upward, with more than three dozen top university administrators across the country, including three in the Chicago area, breaking the $500,000 barrier in salary and compensation, according to a study released Monday by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In 2001-02, Roosevelt University paid $610,000 to President Theodore Gross, who stepped down last year after serving as president for 13 years. Gross had earned $283,000 during 2000-01, according to Chronicle statistics.

Laura Janota, a spokeswoman for Roosevelt, said the $610,000 figure represented a "payment by the university under a multiyear-deferred-compensation program with Dr. Gross."

Meanwhile, University of Chicago President Don Randel was paid $515,000 in salary and benefits, and Northwestern University's Henry Bienen topped $590,000 in compensation.

University of Illinois President James Stukel will receive $335,000 during the current year, while Southern Illinois University President James Walker will get $275,000. Both executives also receive a house or housing allowance, according to the Chronicle.

The Chronicle's study consists of two surveys. One reviews the salaries of top executives of private universities during the 2002 fiscal year; the other looks at the salaries and benefits of public-school executives in the 2003-04 school year.

Despite the paychecks of Gross, Bienen and Randel, the compensation of presidents of Illinois public and private colleges and universities fell short of the top 10 wage earners in higher education.

According to the Chronicle, the top pay spot among private institutions went to Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., who received $891,400 in pay and compensation during 2002. In addition, Jackson made as much as $591,000 for serving on the boards of eight corporations, according to the Chronicle.

Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, is the highest paid president of a public university in 2003-04, receiving $677,500, according to Chronicle records. Coleman receives an additional $100,000 annually for her membership on two corporate boards.

Higher education experts say the size and complexity of the schools they oversee justify the paychecks for presidents of top universities.

"I think that you see most of these higher salaries at quite prestigious institutions and also at prestigious research institutions for the most part," said Claire Van Ummersen, former president of Cleveland State University and chancellor of the university system of New Hampshire. "Those CEOs are very much in the marketplace. There are not huge numbers of individuals who can manage and lead those institutions."

Van Ummersen, who is now director of the office of women in higher education at the American Council on Education, said that even with the recent increases, college presidents are often paid "much less" than executives who oversee smaller companies.

"They have lagged," Van Ummersen said of the salaries. "Compensation for presidents ... is now at a level it should have reached quite a while ago."